BENNINGTON — A local man with an extensive criminal record is being held without bail after he was accused of touching a 44-year-old woman in Bennington on Aug. 22.

Jason Dansby, 31, of Bennington, was arraigned in Bennington criminal court on Sept. 26 for a felony charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. Dansby, who pleaded innocent to the charge, was charged as a habitual offender based on past felony convictions including sexual assault on someone younger than 16 in 2005.

In an affidavit, Detective Anthony Silvestro, of the Bennington Police Department, said he met with a woman Aug. 29 who said she knew Dansby from her church.

The woman said Dansby had kissed her on the lips at the church about a year ago but she had told him that was “not cool.”

More recently, he had contacted her and while she said she made it clear that she didn’t want to be involved with him romantically or sexually, she said he put his hands on her several times while they were at Lake Paran on Aug. 22.

Silvestro said he later learned that Dansby had left the church because he believed “all the women (in the church) wanted him sexually.”